Brass cases, are brass cases, but I've never seen brass tula cases to know if they are boxer or berdan primed. I haven't checked to see if berdan primers are available. Berdan cases are a pain to reload, but if you can find a berdan primer removing tool, and a supply of berdan primers, then brass tula brass would definantly be reloadable.

Also, if you really need to, the aluminum cci blazer pistol cases, and the steel cases, are supposedly reloadable once. Some of it is boxer primed, some berdan primed, so you have to pay attention, and the steel cases are rough on your dies.

I've never thought reloading the steel and aluminum cases worth the effort, so I have never done it, but the current situation may end up changing that.

d3nni5

Stopped at WM today to look for 9mm. They had 2 100 rd boxes left, and a 2 box limit. The guy said he had 18 boxes come in this morning, and it was gone within 2 hours of putting it out.

16RnR....where are you in the country? As I have been keeping up with this forum post, I've noticed a trend of 3 box limits at Wal-marts. I'm in Morgantown, WV, both stores here were at a 3 box limit just yesterday.

16RnR....where are you in the country? As I have been keeping up with this forum post, I've noticed a trend of 3 box limits at Wal-marts. I'm in Morgantown, WV, both stores here were at a 3 box limit just yesterday.

16RnR....where are you in the country? As I have been keeping up with this forum post, I've noticed a trend of 3 box limits at Wal-marts. I'm in Morgantown, WV, both stores here were at a 3 box limit just yesterday.

Well everywhere around me is almost out of all major calibers, an when they do get them in their limiting people to one box (Academy, local gun stores), or three at walmart. Glad I stocked up after the last scare,

Thox Spuddy

Just bought 350 rd of 9mm @ $99 and learned a few things: are you being required to show a drivers license for ammo purchase and wonder why? Retailers might have ammo behind the counter that they are holding off as they want to prevent what is becoming a widespread almost black market for ammo. People are walking into the store and are buying up everything on the shelf and reselling it online they say. They want to restrict such sales so that users of firearms that they sold are getting it, otherwise if they can't buy the ammo, why buy the gun? .........demonstrating that I bought the gun there enabled me to buy the ammo, which wasn't on the shelf.

endurance

...Just a year ago, most of these topics seemed curious, but an absurd waste of time given the previous economics. Today I think these skills are extremely valuable.

Exactly. A little over a year ago I was doing the math on whether I should get back into reloading and concluded that it didn't make economic sense. Even buying cast bullets and the cheapest components I could find, it would take me over 20,000 rounds of 9mm to pay for a Dillon 550 press, say nothing about the value of my time. Now, 14 months later that pay off would be closer to 6,000 round for 9mm and only about 2,000 rounds for 5.56.

I sure wouldn't have even thought about casting my own bullets six months ago, but now I'm acquiring what I need to in order to get started for my two most popular calibers.

I purchased 500 rounds of .223 for $399 at the Memorial Shooting Center in west Houston. It appears that they have a contract with a local reloader who takes all the brass from the range and reloads it. They swear by the reliability.

There was a line this morning to buy AR's. The .223 was gone in 10 minutes, so if you go, show up at 11:00 on Saturday (they open at 11:30).

There was no 9 mm or .223 at Academy in west Houston on I-10. The guy advised me to show up for opening before 8 am on Tuesday for supply. Yeah, I work for a living.

It was picked over pretty good, only having premium or self-defense rounds in exotic (.454 casull, .45gap, 10mm, .357sig, etc.) and a small amount of revolver rounds. I grabbed a box of .38spl gold dots, only because I didn't have any manufactured .38 at home and it seemed like I should.

I'm now thinking the old advice about sticking with NATO calibers is total crap. Whoever has a handgun in .41mag, .357sig or 10mm can still get whatever they want in most stores. On the rifle side every store, inc. WM has .270 in stock at a low price.

The gun counter dude jokingly told me within 2 hours of the store opening 3 people asked for 9mm, .223 and .308. Apparently he felt it was common knowledge that the entire universe is sold out of those calibers.

At the gun show today , 40 year old bricks of .22s 60.00 , 50 round boxs of blazers 9.00,i did see some tula steel case .223 for 10.00 a box, they had plastic bags of loose .22 250 rounds for 35.00 old stuff,unreal Ar15's 1200 and up to 2300. most hand guns were 100 to 1500 higher than they should be on a good day. and they must have dug out every hunk of rust to try andd sell.

Just bought 350 rd of 9mm @ $99 and learned a few things: are you being required to show a drivers license for ammo purchase and wonder why? Retailers might have ammo behind the counter that they are holding off as they want to prevent what is becoming a widespread almost black market for ammo.

Hmmm...not sure what they meant. Selling ammo is perfectly legal so by definition there is no black market. And I can confirm that the big retailers locally do not have extra ammo set aside (I know the managers in charge of ammunition for several of them). Though I do know two mom & pop dealers who have massively raised the prices of the ammo they have out to keep it on the shelves. But if you buy a gun (or they know you are a good customer) they will sell it at the pre-inflated rates. It is hard to sell guns if you don't have ammo available for them.

The drivers license and storing ammo behind the counter policies are in response to a combination of laws on age restrictions (from GCA) and storage (like NYC ammunition law). The big conglomerates tend to adopt the "lowest common denominator" in the laws so as to have consistent policies for training purposes across the entire company. For example, employees at Walmart are supposed to keep ammo locked up, check IDs for age, and, if you are going to check out at a location other than sporting goods, walk the ammunition to that counter for you. Other retailers have other policies for meeting the laws.

I have been told there is an exception to the above for powder, however. Several dealers have told me there is a rule for the amount of gunpowder they can have available on the shelf at one time. I have never been able to find the actual laws for this so am not sure if this is a state or federal regulation. Regardless, they often have more in stock than what is on the shelf.

At the gun show today , 40 year old bricks of .22s 60.00 , 50 round boxs of blazers 9.00,i did see some tula steel case .223 for 10.00 a box, they had plastic bags of loose .22 250 rounds for 35.00 old stuff,unreal Ar15's 1200 and up to 2300. most hand guns were 100 to 1500 higher than they should be on a good day. and they must have dug out every hunk of rust to try andd sell.

More frustrating than the current inventory is not knowing when it will improve. Should we sit tight and cut down on practice, or will things be normal by June?

From what I'm seeing on the ordering side, and what I'm hearing from vendors, it's getting worse before it gets better. IMHO, June is WAY too optimistic. I'm hoping by the end of the year it will start correcting. Here's hoping!

It was picked over pretty good, only having premium or self-defense rounds in exotic (.454 casull, .45gap, 10mm, .357sig, etc.) and a small amount of revolver rounds. I grabbed a box of .38spl gold dots, only because I didn't have any manufactured .38 at home and it seemed like I should.

I'm now thinking the old advice about sticking with NATO calibers is total crap. Whoever has a handgun in .41mag, .357sig or 10mm can still get whatever they want in most stores. On the rifle side every store, inc. WM has .270 in stock at a low price.

The gun counter dude jokingly told me within 2 hours of the store opening 3 people asked for 9mm, .223 and .308. Apparently he felt it was common knowledge that the entire universe is sold out of those calibers.

I've seen the same thing. I can find lots of .243, .257 Roberts, .270, 7mm Rem Mag, and .330 Win Mag. I don't have any of those calibers, yet.

The wisdom of having NATO caliber weapons is that during normal times you can get that ammo a lot cheaper than the less popular calibers. But I don't think it makes sense to avoid other calibers and ONLY have NATO ones. You want your main weapons to be of common caliber to take advatage of bulk buying at cheapest rates when supplies are good. Then have secondary arms in odd calibers for shortages.